


- and caralee... only likes spaghetti

by avosettas



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: (maybe.), Eating Disorders, Gen, Mentions of Unspecified Trauma, Past Child Abuse, Stream of Consciousness, post-musical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:35:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23281084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avosettas/pseuds/avosettas
Summary: They have a lot in common.It isn’t actually that much in common. Or rather, Betelgeuse doesn’t realize how much there is in common, because Delia doesn’t talk about it to him.
Relationships: Beetlejuice & Delia Deetz
Comments: 13
Kudos: 180





	- and caralee... only likes spaghetti

**Author's Note:**

> thank u SoloChaos/@armpit-of-orion for THIS SPECIFIC MESSAGE: **lmao I'm just imagining now like every so often beej will find delia and be like. hey is this food?? and he's holding something he found (a bar of soap, a lemon, an eraser, chewing gum) and she'll just very gently tell him yes or no without judgement bc she's delia!!!**
> 
> anyway. this serves as a BIT of a precursor to a fic about delia i plan on writing (i have 0 motivation lately.) this is very short but im just tryna get back into the swing of things lmao
> 
> hmu @asriells on tumblr!!

Betelgeuse is… strange, but it’s endearing, at least to Delia.

Delia works from home, mostly - Charles makes enough money to support everyone, and Delia loves that her online degree program allows her to learn at her own pace. But Betelgeuse tends to follow her around, a bit like the cat she used to have. 

It’s distracting, to say in the least, but he’s fragile, Delia knows. They have a lot in common - Delia has seen him flinch in the face of unexpected contact, and heard him sobbing through the walls during the nighttime, when he thought everyone else was asleep. 

It isn’t actually that much in common. Or rather, Betelgeuse doesn’t realize how much there is in common, because Delia doesn’t talk about it to him. 

He’s mentioned these things to her, though. He overshares, to everyone in the house. Delia has heard him mention awful things. Partners who didn’t respect him, a mother who didn’t feed him and used his sensory aversions against him. Worse. 

It’s hard to not empathize with him. Similar trauma brings people together, she supposes - it’s not something she learned from her online psychology courses. Two people with similar trauma, at least one of them hellbent on recovering, and the other eager to learn. 

~

Betelgeuse is the only person in the house who will eat her cooking without complaint, but Delia doesn’t know if she should be flattered or offended. She’s seen Betelgeuse eat glass before, and moldy fruit. 

He’s also called her vegan mac and cheese “the best thing ever”, even when Delia herself was gagging on it. 

She and Barbara have two theories. Barbara believes that his mother would punish him if he didn’t like her cooking, and knowing what they do of Juno, it isn’t too far fetched. But Delia thinks that this time, it isn’t one of Betelgeuse’s mommy issues - at least, not in the way Barbara thinks. 

“Delia,” he comes up to her one morning while she’s doing her online classes, with what looks like a handful of mothballs. “Is this food?” 

“No, BJ. Do you want me to make you something?” 

He legitimately doesn’t know what is and isn’t food, and what should and should not be eaten, because Juno didn’t feed him. 

The first time he had asked if something was food, Adam had laughed. It had turned to disgust when Betelgeuse took a bite out of the still-packaged bar of soap he was holding. 

Lydia had answered like she wasn’t sure if he was joking, at first. Charles and Barbara would just get confused, saying things like, “Um, obviously not?” 

Nowadays, they directed Betelgeuse and his food related questions and neuroses to Delia. He gravitated more to her anyway - Adam had guessed it was because Delia was so non-judgemental, and gentle with him. 

“He’s never done anything to me,” Delia had said with a shrug. She believed in second chances, and good karma. Helping other people was her main goal in life, and if she could help Betelgeuse by just telling him simply what was and wasn’t food, she would do it gladly. 

Now, Betelgeuse is still holding his mothballs, looking at them thoughtfully. “Are these edible?” 

“No, honey, they’ll make you sick. I might have marshmallows in the pantry, they look pretty similar.” 

“Okay.”


End file.
